scholarly journals Inflammasome activation and IL-1 signaling during placental malaria induce poor pregnancy outcomes

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. eaax6346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aramys S. Reis ◽  
Renato Barboza ◽  
Oscar Murillo ◽  
André Barateiro ◽  
Erika P. M. Peixoto ◽  
...  

Placental malaria (PM) is associated with severe inflammation leading to abortion, preterm delivery, and intrauterine growth restriction. Innate immunity responses play critical roles, but the mechanisms underlying placental immunopathology are still unclear. Here, we investigated the role of inflammasome activation in PM by scrutinizing human placenta samples from an endemic area and ablating inflammasome components in a PM mouse model. The reduction in birth weight in babies from infected mothers is paralleled by increased placental expression of AIM2 and NLRP3 inflammasomes. Using genetic dissection, we reveal that inflammasome activation pathways are involved in the production and detrimental action of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in the infected placenta. The IL-1R pharmacological antagonist Anakinra improved pregnancy outcomes by restoring fetal growth and reducing resorption in an experimental model. These findings unveil that IL-1β–mediated signaling is a determinant of PM pathogenesis, suggesting that IL-1R antagonists can improve clinical outcomes of malaria infection in pregnancy.

2020 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. e01381-19
Author(s):  
Anna Chudnovets ◽  
Jin Liu ◽  
Harish Narasimhan ◽  
Yang Liu ◽  
Irina Burd

ABSTRACTViral infections during pregnancy lead to a spectrum of maternal and fetal outcomes, ranging from asymptomatic disease to more critical conditions presenting with severe maternal morbidity, stillbirth, preterm birth, intrauterine growth restriction, and fetal congenital anomalies, either apparent at birth or later in life. In this article, we review the pathogenesis of several viral infections that are particularly relevant in the context of pregnancy and intrauterine inflammation. Understanding the diverse mechanisms employed by viral pathogens as well as the repertoire of immune responses induced in the mother may help to establish novel therapeutic options to attenuate changes in the maternal-fetal interface and prevent adverse pregnancy outcomes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aneth Vedastus Kalinjuma ◽  
Anne Marie Darling ◽  
Ferdinand M. Mugusi ◽  
Ajibola Ibraheem Abioye ◽  
Fredros O. Okumu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Malaria infection during pregnancy has negative health consequences for both mothers and offspring. Sub-microscopic malaria infection during pregnancy is common in most African countries. We sought to identify factors associated with sub-microscopic placental malaria, and its association with adverse pregnancy outcomes among HIV-negative pregnant women in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Methods We recruited a cohort of pregnant women during their first trimester and assessed for the occurrence of placental malaria and pregnancy outcomes. The follow-up was done monthly from recruitment until delivery. Histopathology placental malaria positive results were defined as the presence of malaria pigment or parasitized erythrocytes on the slide (histology-positive (HP)), and the sub-microscopic placental infection was defined as positive Plasmodium falciparum DNA by polymerase chain reaction (DNA PCR) amplification in a negative histopathology test. Adverse pregnancy outcomes investigated included low birth weight (birth weight below 2.5 kg), prematurity (live birth below 37 weeks), and small-for-gestational-age (SGA) (live born with a birth weight below 10th percentile for gestational age and sex). Weighted baseline category logit, log-binomial, and log-Poisson models were used to assess factors associated with placental malaria, and its association with adverse pregnancy outcomes. Results Among 1115 women who had histopathology and DNA PCR performed, 93 (8%) had HP placental infection, and 136 (12%) had the sub-microscopic placental infection. The risk of sub-microscopic placental malaria was greater in women who did not use mosquito prevention methods such as bed nets, fumigation, or mosquito coils (odds ratio (OR) = 1.75; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.05–2.92; P = 0.03) and in women who were anemic (OR = 1.59; 95% CI: 1.20–2.11; P = 0.001). Women who were underweight had reduced odds of sub-microscopic placental malaria infection (OR = 0.33; 95% CI: 0.17–0.62; P = 0.001). Women who were overweight/obese had 1.48 times higher the odds of HP placental malaria compared to normal weight (OR = 1.48; 95% CI: 1.03–2.11; P = 0.03). HP placental malaria infection was associated with an increased risk of SGA births (RR = 1.30, 95% CI: 0.98–1.72, P = 0.07). In contrast, the sub-microscopic infection was associated with a reduced risk of SGA births (RR = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.43–0.88, P = 0.01). Placental malaria was not associated with low birth weight or prematurity. Conclusion Malaria prevention methods and maternal nutrition status during early pregnancy were important predictors of sub-microscopic placental malaria. More research is needed to understand sub-microscopic placental malaria and the possible mechanisms mediating the association between placental malaria and SGA.


2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (12) ◽  
pp. 2651-2660 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Eagles ◽  
A. J. Lee ◽  
E. Amalraj Raja ◽  
H. R. Millar ◽  
S. Bhattacharya

BackgroundWhen women have a history of anorexia nervosa (AN), the advice given about becoming pregnant, and about the management of pregnancies, has usually been cautious. This study compared the pregnancy outcomes of women with and without a history of AN.MethodWomen with a confirmed diagnosis of AN who had presented to psychiatric services in North East Scotland from 1965 to 2007 were identified. Those women with a pregnancy recorded in the Aberdeen Maternal and Neonatal Databank (AMND) were each matched by age, parity and year of delivery of their first baby with five women with no history of AN. Maternal and foetal outcomes were compared between these two groups of women. Comparisons were also made between the mothers with a history of AN and all other women in the AMND.ResultsA total of 134 women with a history of AN delivered 230 babies and the 670 matched women delivered 1144 babies. Mothers with AN delivered lighter babies but this difference did not persist after adjusting for maternal body mass index (BMI) in early pregnancy. Standardized birthweight (SBW) scores suggested that the AN mothers were more likely to produce babies with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) [relative risk (RR) 1.54, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.11–2.13]. AN mothers were more likely to experience antepartum haemorrhage (RR 1.70, 95% CI 1.09–2.65).ConclusionsMothers with a history of AN are at increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. The magnitude of these risks is relatively small and should be appraised holistically by psychiatric and obstetric services.


2005 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariadne Malamitsi-Puchner ◽  
Theodora Boutsikou ◽  
Emmanuel Economou ◽  
Evangelos Makrakis ◽  
Zoe Iliodromiti ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-33
Author(s):  
Nagendra Prasad ◽  
James Thingujam

ABSTRACT Maternal with congenitial anomalies are known to have higher incidence of infertility, intrauterine growth restriction, fetal malposition, preterm labor, preterm premature rupture of membrane and increased cesaerean section rate. Study Design This is retrospective study, the pregnancies with uterine anomaly confirmed by ultrasound between Jan 2016 to jan 2017 at our hospital was taken and its outcome is observed. Reults The majority of preterm delivery in our study are mainly associated with septate and bicornuate uterus. Cesaerean section comprised of 80% and its major indication is due to fetal malpresentation (breech). Thus Pregnancy outcomes of individual depending on the type of uterine anomalies. How to cite this article Nagarathnamma R, James T, Prasad N. Pregnancy Outcome in Uterine Anomalies. J Med Sci 2017;3(1):31-33.


Author(s):  
Ying-xue Ding ◽  
Hong Cui

Abstract Brain injury is a serious complication of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), but the exact mechanism remains unclear. While glucocorticoids (GCs) play an important role in intrauterine growth and development, GCs also have a damaging effect on microvascular endothelial cells. Moreover, intrauterine adverse environments lead to fetal growth restriction and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis resetting. In addition, chronic stress can cause a decrease in the number and volume of astrocytes in the hippocampus and glial cells play an important role in neuronal differentiation. Therefore, it is speculated that the effect of GCs on cerebral neurovascular units under chronic intrauterine stimulation is an important mechanism leading to brain injury in infants with growth restrictions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 107602962097445
Author(s):  
Fangfang Xi ◽  
Yuliang Cai ◽  
Min Lv ◽  
Ying Jiang ◽  
Feifei Zhou ◽  
...  

The purpose of our study was to evaluate pregnancy outcomes of women with antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) positivity and assess risk factors associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. Pregnant women with aPL positivity were enrolled prospectively in China from January 2017 to March 2020. Treatment of low-dose aspirin and low molecular weight heparin were given. Pregnancy outcomes and coagulation function were recorded and compared with normal pregnancies. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify risk factors associated to intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). 270 pregnant women, including 44 diagnosed as Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), 91 as non-criteria APS (NCAPS) and 135 normal cases as control, were enrolled in the study. The live birth rate in aPL carriers and APS group was 97% and 95.5%, respectively. Adverse pregnancy outcomes did not show significant difference between aPL carriers and normal pregnancies, and between APS and NCAPS, except for IUGR. The incidence of IUGR was significantly higher in aPL carriers than normal pregnancies, and in APS patients than NCAPS (P < 0.05). After controlling for age, in vitro fertilization (IVF), pregnancy losses related to APS and treatment, anticardiolipin (aCL) positivity was the only variable significantly associated with IUGR, with an adjusted odds ratio of 4.601 (95% CI, 1.205-17.573). Better pregnant outcomes of aPL positive women, include APS and NCAPS, were achieved in our study with treatment based on low-dose aspirin (LDA) plus low molecular weight heparin (LMWH). The incidence of IUGR was still higher in them, and aCL positivity was the only one risk factor associated with IUGR.


2006 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariadne Malamitsi-Puchner ◽  
Theodora Boutsikou ◽  
Emmanuel Economou ◽  
Anastasia Tzonou ◽  
Evangelos Makrakis ◽  
...  

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